Neurogenesis glial cells

Sullivan JM, Sandeman DC, Benton JL, Beltz BS (2007) Adult neurogenesis and cell cycle regulation in the crustacean olfactory pathway from glial precursors to differentiated neurons. J Mol Hist 38 527-542... 

Some of the markers that could be used for analyzing early steps of adult neurogenesis have also some limitations. For example, GFAP not only is expressed by neuronal precursors but also by mature astrocytes, and nestin can be reexpressed by reactive glial cell in case of neurotoxicity or brain injury. Thus, MSI-1 or Sox-2 may represent more suitable markers for precursors. 

In addition to the improved structure and cell connectivity, three-dimensional cultures have shown increased survival and enhanced neuronal differentiation compared to traditional mono-layer cultures [36, 37], The increased survival could be related to the improved cell-cell and cell-matrix contact as it leads to improved cell signaling and gap junction connections. Also cellcell signaling can promote proliferation of glial and NSCs that can contribute to increased culture survival. Moreover, the improved cellcell interaction in the 3D structure, especially between astrocytes and neurons, enhances neurogenesis, synapse formation, and axon myelination. 

The use of cell cycle markers for studying adult neurogenesis is limited by the temporal expression of different cell cycle proteins thus, these markers are not suitable to identify newly born cells after exit from the cell cycle [15]. Moreover, cell cycle markers do not allow to distinguish whether the new cells belong to the glial or neuronal lineage or to other cell populations that are capable of cell division within the mature brain. 

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